Secrets of the Past
by Little Bex
Summary: In the summer after fifth year, Harry begins to discover things about his past, about his parents, and his Aunt Petunia. R/Hr and H/G - Romance, adventure, mystery, it's all here!
1. The Start of Summer

A/N: Hello! This is a sixth year fic. Will eventually be R/Hr and H/G, plus lots of adventure and stuff. My name's Kaleidoscope Eyes, and I've written some other stuff, but Little Bex, who I'm writing this with is new to the whole fanfiction thing. This is our first big story, and we hope you enjoy it.  
  
Secrets of the Past  
  
Harry Potter lay on his bed; arms folded beneath the mop of messy black hair, and closed his eyes, in an attempt to block out the dazzling rays of sunlight that pierced through the slatted blinds.  
  
It had been a week and a half since the end of term, and things hadn't been too bad. The Dursley's seemed to have taken the warning from Moody and Remus seriously, they hardly spoke to him, and seemed to skirt around him at every meal, or every time he was in their company.  
  
He received almost daily owls from Ron and Hermione, each packed with witty tales of how their summers were going. It was a far cry, Harry thought wryly, from the short notes he had received last summer.  
  
Every day, when Hedwig, or Pig brought him a letter, he hoped that it would say, somewhere that the Weasley's were coming to fetch him, and take him to the Burrow. He heard a sudden whooshing sound from the region outside the window, and sat up immediately, his hand at his wand, which lay on the bedside table. Only did he relax when he saw that it was Hedwig returning from her journey to the Burrow. Attached to her leg was a small scroll of parchment, and Harry felt slightly disappointed - his other letters had been at least a foot long.  
  
He took the parchment from Hedwig's outstretched foot, and unrolled it, his eyes scanning over the unfamiliar, cursive text.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Ron's too busy off snogging Hermione to write this letter, so Mum told me to do it instead. I'm only joking - they're not really off snogging, though they are off somewhere. On a picnic. You figure it out. Anyway, Mum says that you are coming to The Burrow later today whether you like it or not. She's cleared it with Dumbledore and the others, so don't worry. Dad will fetch you in a Ministry car, at around four this afternoon.  
  
See you later,  
  
Ginny  
  
His eyes strayed to the clock on the wall, and saw that he only had one hour in which to sort his things out. He couldn't imagine why the Weasley's had left it at such short notice to tell him, though he was rather glad by it.  
  
He jumped off his bed, and began running around his room, throwing his things into his trunk haphazardly, glad of something to do to ease the wait.  
  
Once everything was packed away, and Hedwig was resting in her cage, he dragged his trunk down the stairs, as noisily as possible, not caring if the Dursley's thought that there was a giant in their house.  
  
Just as he'd expected, Uncle Vernon came storming out of the living room, demanding to know what all the noise was about.  
  
"What do you think you're doing boy! Dragging that great hulking thing down the stairs. Don't know what the neighbours will think!"  
  
"Yeah, this trunk is so much louder than that music you let Dudley play every night. What was it again? The Spice Girls? I'd say that the neighbours would be more disturbed by that than a little bumping."  
  
"You watch your lip with me boy!" he roared back at Harry, his enormous face purple, and his walrus moustache quivering with unsuppressed anger.  
  
"You watch your lip with me!" Harry retorted, a bubble of anger rising in him, "or don't you remember what you were told at the train station?"  
  
Uncle Vernon spluttered incoherently for a few seconds, before asking another question.  
  
"And just where do you think you're going, anyway? You haven't completed that list of chores we set you - the garden fence still needs painting."  
  
"Get Dudley to do it. I'm going to stay with my friends, they're coming for me-"  
  
He was cut off by the doorbell ringing, "right about now." He grinned at Uncle Vernon, before moving to open the door.  
  
"Petunia!" Uncle Vernon bellowed, "he's getting away!"  
  
Harry was reminded of the time in the summer before his second year when his uncle had said almost exactly the same thing. The memory cheered him a little, and he grinned when he opened the door and saw Mr Weasley standing there, surrounded by a few of his children.  
  
"Ah, Harry," Mr Weasley said, extending his hand for Harry to shake, "good to see you. Ready to go?"  
  
"Er, yeah," said Harry, "just got to go and grab Hedwig. I'll be right back." He ran up the stairs, and grabbed the cage, and hurried back. As he approached the bottom of the stairs, he heard Mr Weasley making strained conversation with his Aunt and Uncle.  
  
"Er, so, nice car you've got there," Mr Weasley said, wiping his shiny forehead with a spotted handkerchief.  
  
Uncle Vernon merely grunted, and Mr Weasley took this as a sign to continue.  
  
"The Ministry loaned us this car," he gestured behind him, "it really is quite spectacular! It's got a fellytision, and a fellytone and one of those things that makes things cold - fridgers, I think they're called?"  
  
Harry couldn't see Uncle Vernon's expression, but he presumed it was one of wonderment, that his 'freak' friends were in possession of what looked like a very normal, Muggle limousine. He pushed past his uncle, quite accidentally bashing him on the head with Hedwig's cage, which caused his snowy owl to screech loudly in his ear.  
  
"THAT RUDDY OWL!" Uncle Vernon roared, "IT NEEDS TO BE PUT DOWN!"  
  
"Don't yell at Harry like that," Mr Weasley said quietly.  
  
"I DON'T TAKE ORDERS FROM FREAKS LIKE YOU!" Vernon bellowed, and quite a few of the neighbours peered over their garden fences.  
  
"Vernon," Aunt Petunia hissed, keep your voice down. Uncle Vernon looked slightly abashed at his wife's words, and called out to the nosy neighbours -  
  
"Nothing to worry about!" he said brightly, "just rehearsing for a play!" The neighbours frowned, but returned their heads to the other side of the fence.  
  
"Well -" said George.  
  
"We know when we're not wanted -" continued Fred.  
  
"We'll just take Harry now."  
  
They each seized one of Harry's wrists, and dragged him out of the front door. They released him when he had crossed the threshold, and began making their way down the garden path. They had almost reached the impressive limousine, resplendent with little flags bearing the symbol of the Ministry of Magic, when a shrill voice called out from behind him.  
  
"Harry-" he whirled around, surprised at being addressed by his first name by his aunt, who usually just called him 'boy' or 'you'.  
  
"You can't go yet, I haven't told you-" but Aunt Petunia's voice was cut off by the slamming of the front door, and Harry heard no more.  
  
He pondered over what his Aunt wanted to tell him, he'd never heard her like that before, but soon forgot it when Ron clapped a hand on his back, and grinned at him.  
  
"How are you, mate?" he asked.  
  
Harry thought about it for a while before answering. He'd usually just reply with an 'OK', or 'I'm fine', but something welled up inside of him, and the words choked in his mouth. He thought about what he was really feeling, about Sirius. He hadn't given his mind much time to dwell on his godfather in the past week and a half, but now he opened his heart and allowed his emotions to flood in, and so when he answered Ron, it was with an honest answer, and he was surprised to find that his mood felt so much lighter when he said it.  
  
"I miss Sirius." Ron looked shocked, as if he had expected Harry to avoid the issue of Sirius like the plague. "I'm fine about it, Ron," he said, "honestly," he added when Ron looked at him with disbelieving eyes. They had got into the limo now, and the smooth car had glided off along the road, "I think I've accepted that he's really gone. I don't want to think about him dead - I'd prefer to remember him alive."  
  
Ron still didn't look convinced, and so Harry changed the subject.  
  
"So," he said, amusement creeping into his voice, "I got a letter from Ginny, and she said that you and Hermione were too busy snogging to write poor old me a letter."  
  
Ron's ears turned bright red, and he spluttered in embarrassment. He looked at the black leather of the seat and didn't answer Harry.  
  
"More like rowing," interjected Fred - or was it George? In five years of knowing the twins, he still couldn't tell them apart.  
  
"Rowing?" Harry asked, the teasing tone still apparent.  
  
"Yeah, Hermione got a letter from that Krum bloke, wants to know why she won't go and visit him." The other twin said.  
  
"And so Hermione wrote back to him, and you know how Ron gets jealous of Krum."  
  
"So Ron, the clever sod he is, decides to read the letter while Hermione goes to fetch some more ink-"  
  
"And what do you know? Hermione comes back while he's reading it, and you know how Hermione gets when she's angry-"  
  
"Got a pair of lungs on her to match a dragon that girl," George said, grinning.  
  
"-Anyway, as I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted," Fred shot an accusing glance at his twin, "they had this big argument," he put on a high pitched voice, in an imitation of Hermione's, "'Ron! What do you think you're doing? Reading my private letters!'"  
  
George continued to act out the situation, imitating Ron.  
  
"'What does this part mean? Dear Viktor, I would come and visit you, but I am spending the summer with my friend. And anyway - you know I don't like you in that way, and there's someone else. Someone who I really like.'" George paused, "and then our idiot brother goes 'When were you going to tell me about this other person then? Who is it? Is it Neville? It is isn't it? It's Neville.'"  
  
"I didn't say that!" Ron protested.  
  
"As good as," Fred said, and continued imitating Hermione, "'I didn't tell you, because it's you, you idiot!' And then she kind of pushed him over, burst into tears, and ran out of the room. It took Ginny ages to calm her down, and she hasn't spoken to Ron since."  
  
Harry burst into howls of laughter, and watched as the blush spread from Ron's ears to his neck, and then onto his face.  
  
"Shut up," Ron moaned, putting his head in his hands, "I don't know what to do!"  
  
"Boys," Mr Weasley said from the front seat, "don't tease Ron." But as he turned around in his seat, Harry was sure he heard him chortle and mutter, "but he did ask for it."  
  
The rest of the journey passed quickly, and when Ron's embarrassment faded, he launched into a tirade about the Chudley Cannons, his favourite Quidditch team.  
  
This lasted until they reached The Burrow, and Harry was quite glad when they did arrive, he didn't think he could stand any more of Ron's indignant remarks of how the Cannons really ought to be in the Quidditch league, and how it was a travesty that they weren't.  
  
"Harry dear!" Harry heard Mrs Weasley exclaim, and moments later, he was being hugged.  
  
When Mrs Weasley broke the hug, he found himself ambushed firstly by Hermione, who nearly knocked him out, and then Ginny, who gave him a quick hug, before stepping back behind her mother, who had begun her usual tirade against the Dursley's.  
  
"What have those Muggle's been feeding you? You're all skin and bones!" She tried to pat down his unruly hair, but her attempts were fruitless.  
  
"It's no good," he told her honestly, "it won't lie flat," not realising that as he said that, he was trying to pat down his hair.  
  
Mrs Weasley chuckled at his actions, and Harry let her pull him towards the front door. Everyone else followed, talking and laughing, and Harry looked up at the crooked, slightly run down looking house, and for the first time in months, he felt at home.  
  
***  
  
A/N: Please review! Let us know what you think, and if you have any comments or constructive criticism, that would be great! No flames please! 


	2. Harry's Birthday

A/N: Glad you liked the last chapter, thanks for all the reviews! Don't forget to review this one please! Sock-stealing Ginny is Imogen's idea. Go read her fics "Carpe Diem" and "Alpha and Omega", they're really great!  
  
Secrets of the Past  
  
The next day, Harry awoke to the twittering and screeching sounds of Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon. Muttering to the tiny owl to shut up, he sat up, reached for his glasses, and glanced down at the clock on the wall. It was seven o'clock. Harry cursed Pig for waking him up too early, as he knew that he would not be able to go back to sleep.  
  
He pulled the covers off himself, and looked for the familiar mop of red hair in the bed next to him, but saw that it was not there. This was surprising: Ron never usually emerged before at least eight o' clock, even when they were at Hogwarts.  
  
Sighing, he grabbed a towel and went down to the bathroom, which was situated on the floor below. Knocking first, to check that no one was in there, he pushed open the wooden door, and stepped into the shower.  
  
After a few minutes of standing under the hot jets of water, he stepped out, and groped for his towel in the steam created by the hot shower. Finding the towel, he wound it around his waist, and looked around for his clothes. They were not there.  
  
He swore as he realised that he had left them in Ron's room, and he realised that he was going to have to make a run for it up the flight of stairs, and hope that no one saw him.  
  
He poked his head out of the bathroom, and looked both ways down the hallway. Seeing no one, he stepped out and shut the door behind him, every moment conscious that he was wearing only a small, white towel.  
  
He hurried up the stairs, and into Ron's room, and was surprised to see Ginny searching through her brother's chest of drawers. She seemed to be muttering to herself, and hadn't noticed Harry was standing in the doorway.  
  
Harry unsuccessfully tried to back out of the door, wondering if he could make it back to the bathroom without being seen, and call Ron to fetch his clothes, but in the process, he stubbed his toe on the doorjamb, and involuntarily swore.  
  
Ginny whirled around, a pair of balled up socks clutched in her hands. Her eyes went wide with shock, as she saw Harry, wearing nothing but the towel.  
  
"Harry!" she exclaimed, her voice high pitched and unsteady, "what are you doing here?"  
  
"Um," Harry said, "I am staying in this room. Why are you here?"  
  
Ginny held up the bright orange Chudley Cannons socks she held in her hands.  
  
"You're stealing Ron's socks?" Harry asked.  
  
"Guilty," Ginny said, and Harry noticed that her cheeks had gone a little pink, as if she had suddenly realised that she was having a conversation with someone who was half naked.  
  
"Well. I'll just be going then." She stammered, and pushed past Harry, running down the stairs at top speed.  
  
Harry dressed hurriedly, and wondered why he hadn't heard Ron, or for that matter, anyone apart from Ginny that morning. He shrugged, and then went downstairs. As he descended the stairs, he could smell breakfast being cooked - Pancakes, it smelled like. And not those cheap, American style pancakes his Aunt Petunia always bought, the proper, real English pancakes that he loved.  
  
He thought that the kitchen sounded unnaturally quiet this morning. Usually, when he visited The Burrow, breakfast times were filled with Fred and George's jokes, Ron's exclamations over Quidditch, and Mrs Weasley admonishing one or other of her children. This morning, all was quiet, save for a strange sound that could have been wind rustling through leaves, or whispers passing through a crowd of people.  
  
Harry soon discovered that it was the latter, for when he pushed open the kitchen door, the sound stopped, and was replaced with a chorus of people shouting "Happy Birthday!"  
  
Harry had forgotten that today was July 31st, as he had become accustomed to letting his birthday pass without event.  
  
Beneath a banner painted with the words "Happy Birthday Harry!" stood Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Remus, Tonks and three people that Harry thought looked vaguely familiar, though he couldn't remember where from.  
  
Mrs Weasley rushed forwards, and hugged Harry, wishing him a Happy Birthday. Over the next few minutes, nearly everyone gave him birthday greetings, even the three strangers, who Charlie introduced as his friends from Romania: Jamie, Matt and Persephone, who told Harry to call her Sephy.  
  
Harry suddenly realized why he thought he had recognized Jamie, Matt and Persephone - they were Charlie's friends that had fetched Norbert when Harry was in his first year.  
  
After everyone had greeted him, they ushered him over to the kitchen table, where he ate a pile of pancakes stacked high, and laden with butter. Next to his plate of pancakes, the table was groaning beneath a stack of brightly wrapped presents.  
  
He picked up the first gift, and saw that it was from Hermione. It felt suspiciously like a book. He ripped off the bright paper, and saw that it was indeed, a book, entitled "Quality Quidditch for Quality Quidditch Captains". He looked up surprised, at the beaming faces gathered around the kitchen.  
  
"What?" he asked, bewildered.  
  
"I had a letter from Professor McGonagall, asking who I wanted to vote for as Quidditch captain for next year. She said that if I said you, it would make the voting unanimous." Ron said, beaming.  
  
"I'm Captain?" he asked, sounding quite shocked at this prospect.  
  
"Yep. Now hurry up, open the rest of your presents!" Ron said.  
  
Harry grabbed the next present on the pile, and felt it to be squashy, almost as if it was a Weasley jumper. The writing on the label read:  
  
To Harry,  
  
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  
  
Love from  
  
The Weasley family (excluding Fred and George)  
  
Puzzled, he tore open the wrapping, and found the contents to be a scarlet Quidditch robe, resplendent in Gryffindor red. Embroidered onto the front of the robe, on the left hand side, were the words "Captain" in gold lettering.  
  
Harry held the robes up, so he could admire them in their full splendour.  
  
He looked up at the Weasley's, and profusely thanked them for their generosity - he knew that such fine robes as this could not have come cheap.  
  
"This is from us, mate," Fred said, shoving a large box towards Harry.  
  
Harry eyed it suspiciously - he'd heard enough tales from Ron and Ginny to know that a present from Fred and George was likely to explode, or turn him into a large fruit-bat, or something of that vein.  
  
Hesitantly, he opened the box, and was relieved when it didn't explode, and that he didn't turn into an animal of any sort. Instead, the box was filled with products from Weasley's Wizard Wheeze's.  
  
"They're from our new stock," George explained, "we've almost got the shop up and running now. When you come to Diagon Alley, you'll have to stop by."  
  
Harry thanked the twins, and opened the remainder of the presents. The first was a large box of Hagrid's jaw-clamping toffee, another was a new Eagle feather quill from Remus, and from Tonks, he got a box entitled:  
  
"The Ten Most Hated Flavours of Every Flavour Beans! Including the top three: Ear wax, Vomit and Blood!"  
  
"Erm, thanks," Harry said, upon opening this present.  
  
"No problem!" Tonks replied cheerfully.  
  
The final present, was large and rectangular in shape. The label on the front read:  
  
Dear Harry  
  
Happy Birthday mate,  
  
Charlie, Jamie, Matt and Sephy  
  
Harry looked at Charlie's dragon fighting friends.  
  
"You shouldn't have," he exclaimed, "I barely know you."  
  
Jamie grinned, "Well, we do have an ulterior motive. We thought that you could leave it here when you go off to school, and we can have a go."  
  
Harry frowned, wondering just what the parcel held within. Thinking that the best way to find out, would be to open it, he did just that.  
  
It was a Quidditch game, similar to a Muggle board game, or so Harry thought, until he opened it up, and saw a replica of a Quidditch pitch, encased in a glass dome. Protruding from the two longer sides of the wooden base, there were fourteen handle type things, seven on each side, which put Harry in mind of the controls on Dudley's playstation, though much smaller.  
  
"Wow," he breathed, and picked up the instruction booklet, to see just what it did.  
  
"Don't bother with that," said Matt, "we know how to play, we can explain."  
  
"Yeah, it's really simple, you'll pick it up no problem," added Sephy.  
  
Most of the people in the kitchen dispersed now, knowing that Harry would want to experiment with the Quidditch game. Left in the kitchen with Harry were Ron and Hermione, Ginny, Charlie, Matt, Jamie and Sephy. Fred and George wanted to stay, but had to go and work in the shop.  
  
"It's really great," Charlie began to explain the game, "You can play a full scale game. You don't have to have fourteen players, you can set it so that only the position you want is controlled by you, and all the rest run on their own."  
  
"Turn it on then," Sephy said, "lets see what it can do!"  
  
Harry pressed the little black button, that was shaped like a bludger, and the game whirred into life.  
  
Words appeared in the middle of the pitch, forming out of the thin air. They read:  
  
Welcome to Quicksilver's Quidditch! Please select your team!  
  
At this, a long list of Quidditch teams appeared including:  
  
Wimbourne Wasps Chudley Cannons Falmouth Falcons  
  
"You've got to be the Cannons," Ron said.  
  
"Yeah," Harry agreed fervently, and he looked up at Charlie, "how do I select the Cannons?"  
  
"You need to use a controller," Charlie said. Harry picked up a controller, and moved the Snitch cursor down to the Chudley Cannons label. He pressed enter, and a new legend appeared.  
  
Welcome to the Chudley Cannons! Please select the number of players on the team, and the positions they will play.  
  
Harry quickly counted the number of people around the table, and selected four players for the Cannons team, which meant that there would be three players controlled by the game.  
  
For the other team, he selected the Wimbourne Wasps, and said that four players would be playing for this team too.  
  
"What positions do you all want to play?" Harry asked, after sorting the teams out. Charlie and his friends would be the Wasps, and the others would be the Cannons. They lined up at the edges of the dome, four on each side, and each grasped a controller.  
  
They each selected their positions, and then a loud commentating voice filled the air around them, emanating from the dome.  
  
The game commenced, and lasted for most of the morning, with the Cannons winning by a hair's bredth, at 210-200.  
  
"Fancy a real game of Quidditch now?" Ron asked, and Harry nodded eagerly.  
  
Hermione, however, rolled her eyes disparagingly. "Not more Quidditch!" she cried, "I don't think I can stand it!"  
  
Everyone else, however nodded their agreement to the real game, and ignored Hermione, grabbing their brooms, and heading up to the Orchard.  
  
The hours flew by, as the game was played. When it was near to five o' clock, everyone but Harry and Ron returned to the Burrow, claiming they were too tired to continue play. Ron and Harry however, continued practicing new moves, and planning for the future of Gryffindor Quidditch team.  
  
After another half-hour had passed, they too headed back up to the Burrow. Ron ushered Harry up to the second floor bathroom, and he himself went to the third floor bathroom.  
  
After his shower, Harry wrapped a towel around himself, and found that, once more, he had not brought any clean clothes with him. Sighing, he stepped out of the bathroom, realising that unlike this morning, he had to climb two flights of stairs instead of just the one.  
  
He hurried up the stairs, his glasses still steamed up from the shower, and so it was not really surprising when he bumped into a whirl of red hair.  
  
He fell to the floor, with a loud bump, and after checking that his towel was still securely in place, he looked up, and was able to make out Ginny through the haze. He noticed she was wearing a very pretty blue dress.  
  
"We really should stop meeting like this," he said wryly, as he picked himself up off the floor, breaking the uncomfortable silence.  
  
"Yes, we should," Ginny said, quite quietly. She seemed to mentally shake herself, before she continued, "anyway, I was looking for you. Mum says dinner's ready."  
  
"Oh right, er, just give me a moment to get dressed."  
  
Ginny nodded mutely, and practically fled from the scene, running down the stairs.  
  
Harry buried his head in his hands in embarrassment. He wondered how many more times he was going to forget his clothes and meet up with Ginny wearing nothing but a towel during his stay at the Burrow.  
  
Minutes later, he was in Ron's room, dressed and attempting to make his hair lie flat, but to no avail.  
  
He hurried down the stairs, wondering if the silence meant that they had started dinner without him. He entered the kitchen, expecting to see the Weasley's plus their guests eating at the table, but to his surprise, there was nobody in the kitchen. He frowned, and went into the living room, but found no one there either.  
  
"Hello?" he called, but no one answered.  
  
He looked in all the other downstairs rooms, even the broom cupboard, but found no one. He then thought he heard a suppressed giggle from the garden, and so headed out there.  
  
He barely had time to register that the garden was bedecked with streamers and balloons, before he heard an almighty cry of "SURPRISE!!"  
  
People seemed to spring out of thin air, and, Harry supposed, that some sort of charm had been cast. He saw people from school - Neville, Seamus, Dean, Lavender, Parvati and Padma, Dennis and Colin and some others from his year.  
  
He grinned at them all, and from somewhere, music began to play, and people began to mingle and talk. Harry headed over to Ron and Hermione.  
  
"Did you suspect anything?" Ron asked, when Harry reached them.  
  
"Nope," Harry said, "I'm still really shocked. How did you-"  
  
Ron cut him off, "Mum's been planning it for ages. She said that as you've never had a proper Birthday party, you ought to."  
  
"Well, it's really great!" Harry exclaimed, "thanks you guys,"  
  
During the course of the evening Harry's classmates gave him birthday greetings, and exchanged tales of their holiday so far. By general consensus, Neville's story was definitely the funniest.  
  
"So we went to my Uncle Algie's house, and I took Trevor with me. Uncle Algie said he was getting a bit boring, and so he decided to make him a bit more interesting. He gave him this potion, which apparently should have turned him into a super-toad, or something, but instead, it turned him bright pink, with fluffy horns poking out of his head! Uncle Algie laughed so much, he almost gave himself a heart attack. As it is, all that happened was his false teeth fell out, into the pond. He still hasn't found them. He's really upset, apparently, they used to belong to his Grandmother."  
  
Everyone laughed when Neville finished his story, and Harry, Ron and Hermione moved off to the food table.  
  
The night wore on, and when dusk began to fall, Mr. Weasley lit little fairy lights all throughout the garden, which twinkled unrelentlessly.  
  
All was calm and peaceful, until Ron and Hermione decided to have an argument. It started as all Ron and Hermione arguments started: over something stupid.  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting with Ginny and Neville in a corner of the garden, when the conversation turned to what they'd do if there was an attack on Hogwarts from Voldemort's dark forces.  
  
"I think the Ministry should let us all take our Apparition tests early, so we could all get out if we needed to," Ron said.  
  
"Honestly, Ron!" Hermione said, "how many times do I have to tell you? You can't apparate or disapparate in the Hogwarts grounds! It's in Hogwarts: A History!"  
  
"I was joking Hermione! You and your bloody 'Hogwarts: A History'" Ron put on a high pitched voice in imitation of Hermione, as he said the last bit, "honestly!" he said, again in imitation.  
  
Hermione stood up, her face red, and poked Ron in his chest.  
  
"You are the most arrogant, idiotic person I've ever met!" She enunciated every word prodding Ron's chest repeatedly. At this Ron stood up too, and moved around to the other side of Hermione, so that they were once again facing each other.  
  
"Maybe you should stop being a know-it-all!" Ron yelled.  
  
"Idiot!" Hermione retaliated, not realising that the music had stopped, and everyone was staring at them.  
  
"Teacher's pet!"  
  
"Self-indulgent little twerp!"  
  
"Vickie-lover!"  
  
"Chauvinistic pig!"  
  
"Freak!" said Ron, who was rapidly running out of insults.  
  
"Stupid red-head!" Hermione also seemed to be running out.  
  
Neither had noticed, but with each insult hurled, they had taken one step closer to each other, so that now, they were practically nose to nose.  
  
"Stupid idiot," Ron said, though he said this in a much softer voice, much quieter.  
  
"Honestly Ron! You are truly the most infuriating, waste of space I've ever m-"  
  
She was silenced, by Ron kissing her on the lips. At first, Hermione seemed shocked, but then she began to kiss him back.  
  
When they broke apart, claps, wolf-whistles and catcalls broke out from everyone in the garden, and someone, Harry suspected it was Fred or George called out "About time, too!" which was met by laughter.  
  
Ron and Hermione both had bright red faces, and they looked uncomfortable under all the scrutiny. Ron gave a small embarrassed smile, and grabbed Hermione by the wrist, dragging her indoors, out of the way of everybody.  
  
There was a small silence, before somebody restarted the music and chatter began again.  
  
Harry still sat in the corner with Ginny and Neville, a little shocked at his friends' antics, but amused nonetheless.  
  
"Well," he said, a small smile on his face, "who wants to bet that they haven't gone inside to talk?"  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: Thanks for being patient in waiting for this chapter. The next chapter should be up soon, hopefully. Thanks for reading, and please read and review. 


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